Jessica SlatteryJessica is from Mooresville, North Carolina and is an 11th grade homeschooler whose outstanding essay talks about how her relationship with libraries went from a place of fear and anxiety of reading to a place of discovery and window to the world as a homeschool student.

More about Jessica:

“I was born Jessica Renee Slattery, in Charlotte North Carolina, on June 13th, 1997. My family made the decision to homeschool my siblings and I until the first grade. When the first grade arrived, homeschooling was working so well that we decided to continue.

I am now a Junior, working on my Associates in Science at Mitchell Community College. Outside of school, I spend my time practicing yoga and tutoring at the North County Regional Library. After completely my degree at Mitchell, I am hoping to study at a university in order to peruse a career in occupational therapy or another health field which might catch my interest as I learn more about different options in this area of study.”